Mother Nature has been the RHS dynamic duo’s fiercest competitor during the 2019 tennis season and the Region III Class 3A championship last Wednesday in College Station was no exception.
The mixed doubles team of Reyna Gonzalez and Devon Whitsel weathered hours-long rain delays before handily defeating the competition to win their second straight regional championship and advance to the UIL Class 3A Tennis State championships on May 16-17 in College Station.
On the first day, the 2018 Class 3A mixed doubles state championship team shutout Janah Kubena and Abbi Joines of East Bernard 6-0, 6-0 in a match that took a little more than four hours to complete due to rainfall.
The pair started its opening match around noon last Wednesday and thirty minutes later were off the courts for an hour due to a slight drizzle.
Gonzalez and Whitsel were back on the court by 2 p.m. and won the first set 6-0. When the rain came down harder in the second set, the match was delayed again.
After a three-hour delay, Gonzalez and Whitsel ended their first day of the tournament in 30 minutes by shutting out the East Bernard team 6-0, 6-0.
On the second day, the mixed doubles team made it through the quarterfinals without giving up a game to Trevor and Emily Menzel of Groesbeck 6-0, 6-0.
In the semi-finals they took down Marco Chavez and Elena Luna of Clifton 6-2, 6-2 and won the Region III Class 3A championship over Caleb Powell and Malaysia Williams of Woodville 6-1, 6-2.
Gonzalez and Whitsel will play next at the UIL Class 3A tennis state championships on May 16-17 at the Mitchell Tennis Center and the Smith Intramural Tennis Center in College Station.
The team has logged in EIGHT matches for the entire 2019 tennis season. Tournament rain delays and cold weather forced cancellations of two tournaments for the pair this season.
In the girls doubles division, District 19-3A champions Autumn Montelongo and Payton Miller also had an unorthodox first day of the regional tournament last Wednesday.
In their third tournament as a team, they fell behind to Laney Beam and Danna Guille of Whitney going down 4-0 before they bounced back to win the set 7-5.
After the first rain delay, the girls started the second set fighting their way up to 3-2 score. The three-hour delay stopped the team’s momentum when it forced them off the courts again. When they returned to the court, Montelongo and Miller faced a revitalized Beam and Guille team. The Whitney team won the match 35 minutes later in four straight games 6-3 and 6-0.
This was final high school tennis match for Montelongo, who graduates next month.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.